Chapter Three
Five years had passed since the incident at Asha's house and a lot had changed since then. Scarlet was a completely different woman. She had taken on Asha's advice and now was actually living life. She lived in the moment, not worrying about what could possibly happen tomorrow, only worrying about what was happening then and now. She spoke her mind, she was loud and fun, guys spoke to her and she spoke back. She wore the clothes she wanted to wear, not what everyone else was wearing or wanted her to wear. If Scarlet felt like going out in her PJs, she did it, much to Asha's dismay. She didn't care what other people thought. When Scarlet looked back at who she was when she had first arrived in New Jersey, she felt like crying. She couldn't believe the way she used to let other people control her life. She was boring, and weird and weak, the complete opposite of who she was now. For the first time in her life, Scarlet was proud of who she was, and it was all because one person was able to see through all the walls she had spent her whole life putting up. Asha had helped Scarlet to become the person she really was and not the person she thought everyone else wanted her to be.

From the day Asha had taken Scarlet to her place to stay the night, to the present, Scarlet and Asha had remained best friends. They were inseparable and they had moved into a house together as soon as they had left high school. Scarlet worked as a manager at a menswear store and Asha worked in a department store managing the CD and music section. They spend every moment they could together doing anything and everything. Scarlet and Asha were a lot alike and that's why they got along so well. They thought along the same lines and would even finish each others' sentences sometimes. Unfortunately Asha and Scarlet had lost contact with Frank after leaving school. Scarlet thought about him quite a bit and often wondered what we was doing with himself now. Asha and Scarlet would always talk about the great times the three of them had together, smoking cigarettes in that cramped hidden section of their prim and proper Catholic school. Frank had watched Scarlet transform before his very eyes and had loved the person she had become in high school. He even developed a small crush on her, and when Scarlet found out, she gave him so much shit for it. She loved Frankie, but he was a hobbit and a good friend and she just didn't look at him that way.

Scarlet's transformation hadn't been a completely positive experience, and although it had changed her in a lot of good ways, there was one major downfall. Back in Australia, Scarlet had been offered drugs on numerous occasions but had always declined. She was a safe person, she didn't like taking risks which in turn made her fearful of the effects these substances could have on her mind. She knew drugs had driven people insane and she wasn't willing to risk her sanity for one small high. But now things were very different. Asha had always smoked pot and had coaxed Scarlet into trying it one day. Scarlet actually enjoyed it, and wondered why on earth she had been so scared of trying something that mother-nature produced. It made her feel calm and light and funny. She could forget her problems, even if it was just for a few hours while she was stoned. It felt good. To begin with, Scarlet and Asha only smoked a few times a week, but when they moved in together it became a daily ritual for them. Every morning, as soon as they got up they would have a bong or a joint, as soon as they got home from work they would do the same, and before they went to bed they would smoke again. From there, the girls progressed onto ecstasy, and then meth and then onto cocaine. Scarlet loved the way the drugs made her feel. They made her feel like she could do anything, the world was a better place. The two of them were in a constant dream like state, but they didn't care. This is what made them happy, so why would they stop?

She woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating on the wooden chest of drawers beside her bed. She hated waking up to that goddamn noise. It was like a swarm of bees were trapped inside her eardrums. She decided she would just ignore it. It was her only day off that week and she wasn't getting out of bed for anyone. To her dismay though, the caller was extremely persistent.
"For fuck sakes" she mumbled rolling over in her warm comfortable bed and reaching out to grab her phone.
She flipped it open and grumbled a "what?" to the person on the other end of the line.
"Well good afternoon to you too sunshine!" a chipper voice sang.
"Oh, hey Ash. What's up?" she replied a bit more awake then before. Asha always put a smile on her face, no matter what the time of day or the condition she was in.
"Not much. But you, my dear Scarlet, are meeting me for lunch. See you in twenty minutes outside my work k?" And with that Asha hung up the phone.

After a few minutes of cursing the fact she hadn't just let her phone ring out, Scarlet dragged herself out of her bed. She made her way downstairs to the kitchen and immediately began looking for her handbag. Once she had found it, she returned back upstairs to her room, opened the door that lead out to her balcony and took a seat on the blue sofa she loved so much. She reached into her bag and pulled out her pack of smokes and a lighter. She reached into her packet and poked around the smokes until she found what she was looking for. She quickly lit a joint with a shaky hand and inhaled deeply. There was nothing she loved more then the first joint of the day, it made her feel alive despite the fact it was killing her slowly but surely. She sat there merely smoking and staring into space until the joint was gone. She stubbed it out in the grim reaper ashtray Asha had bought for her as a present. Asha always bought little nick-nacks for Scarlet. Scarlet always had such a hard time accepting them, telling Asha that she was better off spending her money on things for her self rather then things for her best friend, but Asha never listened. She took joy in seeing the happiness that spread across Scarlet's face whenever she opened something new.

Scarlet quickly jumped in the shower and then began to get ready for her lunch date. If she had her way, she wouldn't have showered at all and would have gone out in her Pjs, but today, she didn't really feel like putting up with the disapproving looks and the long lecture she would get from Asha about taking pride in her appearance, so she pulled out her favourite black "Cure" t-shirt, the one with a silhouette of Robert Smith holding a guitar accompanied by the words "Boys Don't Cry" on it, and paired it up with a pair of black pin striped skinny leg pants. Scarlet's favourite band was The Cure, and she had the biggest crush on Robert Smith. He may have been a good 20 years older then her, but she still thought he was the sexiest man alive. Asha would call him a geriatric but Scarlet didn't care, she was a sucker for a guy in make up. She ran a brush through her super long bleach blonde hair and applied a bit of black eyeliner before grabbing her bag and her black high top cons and making her way to her front door.

Cheers heaps for your reviews guy. Its my first attempt at writing anything so thanks for all your positive feedback xoxo